Laundry King: The Borscht Belt

Marisa Scheinfeld will speak at the Laundry King on Saturday, September 3 at 2pm, where she will show selections from her photographic series and upcoming book which contains 129 photographs and a selection of Borscht Belt ephemera. Her book will be available for pre-order. Co-sponsored by the Livingston Manor Free Library.

Today the Borscht Belt is recalled through the nostalgic lens of summer swims, Saturday night dances, and comedy performances. But its current state, like that of many other formerly glorious regions, is nothing like its earlier status. Forgotten about and exhausted, much of its structural environment has been left to decay. The Borscht Belt, which features essays by Stefan Kanfer and Jenna Weissman Joselit, presents Marisa Scheinfeld’s photographs of abandoned sites where resorts, hotels and bungalow colonies once boomed in the Catskill Mountain region of upstate New York. Her assembled images of abandoned, demolished, and repurposed buildings are significant documentation of a pivotal era in American Jewish history and Catskill history.

This event is free and open to the public, and donations will be accepted at the door. The Borscht Belt will be released on October 4, 2016 by Cornell University Press.